The Bharatiya Janata Party, whose ally Janata Dal (United) did not allow it to draft Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Bihar campaign, today announced its Hindutva icon would criss-cross Uttar Pradesh for electioneering.

"Modi will be campaigning in the three regions of Uttar Pradesh in the first phase of elections," senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, whose party has entered into a seat-sharing arrangement with its NDA partner JD (U) in the state, told reporters in New Delhi.

The saffron party plans to leave more than 40 seats for the JD (U) and the regional Apna Dal, its new ally in Uttar Pradesh, as part of the electoral understanding with them.

In the last Bihar elections, the JD (U), which apparently did not want to risk losing Muslim votes, did not allow its junior partner in the state to use Modi in campaigning.

The BJP, which had until a couple of months ago been seeking dismissal of the Mulayam Singh Yadav government over law and order issues, set electricity, road and water as priority areas of its Uttar Pradesh campaign.